When are you most creative - What does it take - For writers on PDF

[Dawood Ibrahim]

Your Mood plays big role

 

[Jungibaaz]

1. Which part of the day do you feel most creative in?
2. When and where do you do your brainstorming?
3. Do you have a separate space where your thought process is at its best and where you put your thoughts into writing or do you simply turn on you laptop and write whenever or wherever you feel like it.
4. If you're a fiction writer, do the characters in your stories reflect your own personality? If yes then how often?

These questions are for every member who likes to write. It can be anything. Doesn't matter if your work is private or unpublished.

Good thread, I'm glad to see a creative writing one on PDF. As it happens, I have recently begun the endeavour of writing a fictional novel, for my own sake, the length of which is yet unknown. I'll talk more about that in a second.

1. Night time, I work that way, I find myself most productive at night. Which is most unfortunate as it would be far more convenient if I could do this in the middle of the day.
2. In the strangest of places, I remember on two occasions where I felt unsure about the direction of my short story and where I should take it, totally stumped. Had two separate Eureka moments, one in the shower, once at night before bed. Strange, right?
3. I would say you shouldn't get too caught up in your location or setting, perhaps it varies from person to person. But although reading my books in certain settings does wonders for making me happy, I don't see it increase my creativity. I find sometimes, some settings can even be distracting, only a few days ago I spent sometime in a suburban place outside London, with many nature walks about, greenery, forestry overlooking a lake. Very scenic, but I could not concentrate on my story there.
   I seem to be more productive when writing at home, with a laptop, or when sitting in silence. Although the places you visit will undoubtedly affect your story. Up until about a month ago, my story made no mentions of the sea, beaches or coastal areas, yet for my time in July near the coast, my story now will accommodate that wish.
4. This is a very weighty topic to discuss, let me begin by saying that enforcing too much of myself on any character especially the main is probably not a good idea, I was concerned with this before too. I may find myself worthy of making a character of, but perhaps it's not so for readers, perhaps there are multiple personality traits that seem normal to me, yet would be annoying, unbearable or just off to characters as perceived by readers. Besides, it serves no other purpose but the domination of the author, that I do NOT want to do. Yet very mysteriously, the theme of my work has taken on, very brazenly my own philosophies and politics, this is bad too, but if controlled it may be okay, and it is somewhat unavoidable too.

This was also an attempt to lure out the gifted ones. We need more participants.

Let me leave you guys with a few additional questions.

1. Do you think you have a strong imagination?
2. Are you introverted or are you extroverted?
3. Have you ever attempted to create your own universe? I'm talking about something like Tolkien's middle-earth, Rowling's Wizarding World. Doesn't have to be magical, could be something like Suzanne Collin's Panem. Doesn't have to be on paper.

@Jungibaaz @544_delta

1. No, but the more I read and travel, it gets slightly better over time.
   
2. Introverted, INTJ if a thread on PDF was correct last time.
3. Never seriously. And I'd have something to add in this regard, perhaps attempting to create your own universe from the outset is unwise. You can become unnecessarily bogged down by details, strange nouns meaningless to all besides you, and settings with no story to hold firm.
   
   Instead, I'd advice creating a compelling story first, even if it's short and somewhat childish. Both Tolkien and Rowling started off this way, Rowling did not conceive the entire wizarding world in its entirity or complexity when setting out to write the Philosopher's Stone. And Tolkien's universe, elaborate it may be, started off with nothing more than a few poems and a short tale about a character named Earendil the mariner and a named star.
   
   But in order to give his universe shape he wrote manuscripts for the book of lost tales, though those on their own are dull, dreary and uninteresting without the necessary motivation of the story of the Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit. These stories were set in that place and thus they legitimised the existence of it to both the author and readers alike. No person on earth read's Tolkien's legendarium without first being taken in to that world with the other works.
   
   I'll add one more point here, I have seen friends attempt to create their own universe and they falter at the very start. One thing you should attempt to understand... your reader DOES NOT know or care about your universe at the start of the tale. Your second page could include a nuclear holocaust of that universe and it wouldn't bother them. Try introducing your world, slowly, simply, adding small motivations for continuing in between. Using the examples of Harry Potter and the LOTR/The Hobbit again. One technique often used by fiction writers is that they will attempt to have a main character that knows very little at the beginning of the book(s) about the universe at large, they will then journey through that world slowly learning the complexities of it, this allows readers to follow the story as if they themselves were immersed in it, seeing only what our naive characters learn slowly. Frodo in LOTR is just a hobbit, not a king of men, he doesn't venture outside the Shire much, yet through him, slowly we learn of much of the wider world. Harry Potter knew not the wizarding world in the beginning, yet we slowly learned about that world as readers as our own characters did in their journey.

My own story is yet vastly incomplete, but it is about a tragic character, simple, relateable who sees the world he grew up in, utterly turn to madness and grief. I will say no more, the description here is very uninteresting, short and frankly useless. But one strange thing I could tell you is, I have already written down the ending of this book in its detail. In fact, I had unknowingly written down the end of this book many years ago. But now I've decided to do something with it, and write a story that may eventually get us to that ending.

Sorry if this was wordy and long. @RAMPAGE So, what are you writing or planning on writing? Enough of me, let's hear from you.

 

[RAMPAGE]

Good thread, I'm glad to see a creative writing one on PDF. As it happens, I have recently begun the endeavour of writing a fictional novel, for my own sake, the length of which is yet unknown. I'll talk more about that in a second.

1. Night time, I work that way, I find myself most productive at night. Which is most unfortunate as it would be far more convenient if I could do this in the middle of the day.
2. In the strangest of places, I remember on two occasions where I felt unsure about the direction of my short story and where I should take it, totally stumped. Had two separate Eureka moments, one in the shower, once at night before bed. Strange, right?
3. I would say you shouldn't get too caught up in your location or setting, perhaps it varies from person to person. But although reading my books in certain settings does wonders for making me happy, I don't see it increase my creativity. I find sometimes, some settings can even be distracting, only a few days ago I spent sometime in a suburban place outside London, with many nature walks about, greenery, forestry overlooking a lake. Very scenic, but I could not concentrate on my story there.
   I seem to be more productive when writing at home, with a laptop, or when sitting in silence. Although the places you visit will undoubtedly affect your story. Up until about a month ago, my story made no mentions of the sea, beaches or coastal areas, yet for my time in July near the coast, my story now will accommodate that wish.
4. This is a very weighty topic to discuss, let me begin by saying that enforcing too much of myself on any character especially the main is probably not a good idea, I was concerned with this before too. I may find myself worthy of making a character of, but perhaps it's not so for readers, perhaps there are multiple personality traits that seem normal to me, yet would be annoying, unbearable or just off to characters as perceived by readers. Besides, it serves no other purpose but the domination of the author, that I do NOT want to do. Yet very mysteriously, the theme of my work has taken on, very brazenly my own philosophies and politics, this is bad too, but if controlled it may be okay, and it is somewhat unavoidable too.

1. No, but the more I read and travel, it gets slightly better over time.
   
2. Introverted, INTJ if a thread on PDF was correct last time.
3. Never seriously. And I'd have something to add in this regard, perhaps attempting to create your own universe from the outset is unwise. You can become unnecessarily bogged down by details, strange nouns meaningless to all besides you, and settings with no story to hold firm.
   
   Instead, I'd advice creating a compelling story first, even if it's short and somewhat childish. Both Tolkien and Rowling started off this way, Rowling did not conceive the entire wizarding world in its entirity or complexity when setting out to write the Philosopher's Stone. And Tolkien's universe, elaborate it may be, started off with nothing more than a few poems and a short tale about a character named Earendil the mariner and a named star.
   
   But in order to give his universe shape he wrote manuscripts for the book of lost tales, though those on their own are dull, dreary and uninteresting without the necessary motivation of the story of the Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit. These stories were set in that place and thus they legitimised the existence of it to both the author and readers alike. No person on earth read's Tolkien's legendarium without first being taken in to that world with the other works.
   
   I'll add one more point here, I have seen friends attempt to create their own universe and they falter at the very start. One thing you should attempt to understand... your reader DOES NOT know or care about your universe at the start of the tale. Your second page could include a nuclear holocaust of that universe and it wouldn't bother them. Try introducing your world, slowly, simply, adding small motivations for continuing in between. Using the examples of Harry Potter and the LOTR/The Hobbit again. One technique often used by fiction writers is that they will attempt to have a main character that knows very little at the beginning of the book(s) about the universe at large, they will then journey through that world slowly learning the complexities of it, this allows readers to follow the story as if they themselves were immersed in it, seeing only what our naive characters learn slowly. Frodo in LOTR is just a hobbit, not a king of men, he doesn't venture outside the Shire much, yet through him, slowly we learn of much of the wider world. Harry Potter knew not the wizarding world in the beginning, yet we slowly learned about that world as readers as our own characters did in their journey.

My own story is yet vastly incomplete, but it is about a tragic character, simple, relateable who sees the world he grew up in, utterly turn to madness and grief. I will say no more, the description here is very uninteresting, short and frankly useless. But one strange thing I could tell you is, I have already written down the ending of this book in its detail. In fact, I had unknowingly written down the end of this book many years ago. But now I've decided to do something with it, and write a story that may eventually get us to that ending.

Sorry if this was wordy and long. @RAMPAGE So, what are you writing or planning on writing? Enough of me, let's hear from you.

Oh I've found one! I've found one at last

Night works best for me too.

Not at all! I can totally relate.

Yep, a few days ago I went to the park thinking I'll finalise the plot of a short story I'm writing (my first ever). Couldn't think of anything. It was a beautiful morning and I found myself enjoying my surroundings instead of concentrating on the story.


I wouldn't say that I have a particularly strong imagination but I'd say that I am dreamy.

Quite Introverted.

Haven't attempted yet. I wanted to see what others had to say about it and your last point is very good and would come in handy. Thanks a lot for the reply.

I have written a couple of short poems, both romantic. The short story I'm writing (well sort of - I need absolute peace of mind which I won't be able to achieve before winter) is also romantic. It will be made up of a few romantic scenes followed by a tragic end. I'll try to make the scenes as breathtaking as I can.

@Jungibaaz

How many short stories have you written? Can you tell us what they're about? Is that the first novel you're writing?

 

[livingdead]

@RAMPAGE do publish your story... and give us the link.

 

[RAMPAGE]

@RAMPAGE do publish your story... and give us the link.

Sure! I'll send you an on the house, autographed copy of my first book.

 

[livingdead]

Sure! I'll send you an on the house, autographed copy of my first book.

do you publish blogs?

 

[Olaf One-Brow]

I draw and write Polandball comics and generally am most creative after reading the news, letting it sink in while taking a shower or after a bit of, uh, .

Creativity just happens. You can't force it or else you come across as trying too hard.

I'm an avid writer though, but mostly write research papers.

 

[Olaf One-Brow]

1. Which part of the day do you feel most creative in?
2. When and where do you do your brainstorming?
3. Do you have a separate space where your thought process is at its best and where you put your thoughts into writing or do you simply turn on you laptop and write whenever or wherever you feel like it.
4. If you're a fiction writer, do the characters in your stories reflect your own personality? If yes then how often?

1. After s*x whenever that is. Sometimes morning, sometimes evening. No really. I'm not joking. I also get a burst of energy around 11:00pm, so sometimes I write then too.

2. In the shower or on my way home from work. A two hour metro/train ride, good headphones and a tablet to draw on. MS paint of course, and using a stylus. Don't want r/Polandball to disqualify muh art.

Sometimes I get a bit distracted though.

I need quiet and time to think, so a long ride home works wonders.

3. Just let them flow. Once I start writing I stop when I'm done. I'll go back and proof read or edit thoughts before moving on from the storyboard to the meat-and-potatoes, but I don't split the process up into parts or sections. Just storyboard and then finished product.

Even this is a couple hours or even days due to its complexity.

Splitting the comic into parts would only make me lose the plot.

4. The comics tend to reflect my interests, but the characters reflect national stereotypes like fat or militaristic America, greedy China, wannabe white Argentina, Imperialistic Britain and so on.

I don't have the patience to write anything other then comics on social, economic or political commentary or current events.